The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1887-09-11
matte aspect Of the man. this biographer says

matte aspect Of the man. this biographer sayf
nothing.
The life OF John Adams, by the same
author. Is also strlkingly judicious and com.
plete. II may be that Mr.. Fiske has omitted
TO consult one authority which throws con-
siderable light on weak and foolish
point in his subjects character. tho notion
that there were and ought to be in this coun-
try aristocrsts in the English meaning Of the
term. and that he himself was one OF them.
We have In mind the account Of Adamss de-
meanor and proposals In tho secret proceed
ings Of the first session OF tho United States
Senate, which some years ago was given to
the world In the diary Of Macleay, ono OF tho
Pennsylvania Senators In the First Con-
gross. Mr.. Fiske does not fail. however. to
note the exhibition OF this grotesaue and mis-
placed idiosyncrasy. After pointing out that
John Adams "in one OF his essays provoked
great popular wrath by using the phrase, the
well born" the biographer proceeds to say
that he believed In the rightful existence OF Q
governing class which ought to be kept at the
head OF affairs" II Is open to Adams's apollo
gists to contend that he employed the phrase
well born" In an unusual and esoteric. In
stead OF the accepted sense, though 1t was not
customary for him to write English in that
fashion. But tho assertion that he had q
hankering after titles has since the
publication of Macleay's evidence passed
out OF the category Of hypothesis, and must
be received as . statement Of fact Apropoe OF
tho foundation for Adams's pretensions In
class list, arranged according to the social dis
tinction OF . graduates parents. Adams was
placed fourteenth in . class Of twenty-four;
and another recent blographer, Mr.. j. T. Morse.
Jr.. has suggested that he owed this ante
penultimats position to tho social standing
rather OF his mothers than Of his fathers
family. Such details would be insignificant
but for tho preposterous affectations which
subsequently, exposed Adams to derision.
That Mr.. Fiske judges for himself without
paying tho least heed to preeIisting prejudice
fostered by current history. is signally demon
strated BY his article on Benedict Arnold. II
We except an attempt at exoulpation made BY
ono of Arnold's descendants, no American
writer-and certainly mono who could command
an equally respectful hearing-has set forth
with such completeness and fairness the really
extraordinary value Of Arnold's services and
the black ingratitude with which he was re-
paid. George Monk never had Q 1.-THE Of
Arnold's provocation for betraying tho COM
monwealth Of which he was defender to tho
hereditary claimant Mr.. Fiske secs that II
tho two cases are not exactly analogous, tho
advantage is on Arnold's side, and that had his
treason prospered.a as but for Andres plumbers 1t
might have dono, history would have dealt with
him as kindly as she has with the Duke OF AL
bsmarle. Arnolds march from Cambridge to
Quebec by way Of tho Kennebec and Chaudiere
rivers IL pronounced "as difficult and
dangerous as Hannibal's crossing Of the
Alps" and he reminds US that the
Yankee General had to surmount reverse
moro serious than any met with by the Car
thaginian. to wit. the dessrtion Of an impor-
tant fraction Of his force 1t is also pointed
out that We owe to the desperate naval battle
fought by Arnold on Lake Champlain that the
invasion Of Now York from Canada WAS de-
ferred from the autumn Of l776 to that Of 1777,
and was conducted by Burgoyne instead Of
Carleton. Had Carleton reached the upper
Hudson In October. 1778. the American COM
monwealth would have been strangled within
six months after the Declaration of Indepen-
dence. It was, as no invites tho reader to rec
ognize, this Same feat OF Arnold's which
set free the rsenforcements that ena-
bled Washington to deal his tell
ing blows at Trenton and Princeton.
Az to the decisive battle Of Saratoga, to which
we are indebted for the treaty with Franco.
and the resultant liberation Of our country,
Mr.. Fiske has no doubt that the credit Of this
great victory Is due chiefly to Arnold. The au-
thor lays due stress on another fact too often
overlooked. that Arnold was odious to O GER
tain cabal in Congress. because he was the
most conspicuous among the devoted admir-
ers OF Washington. and that they struck at him
to weaken tho Commander in Chief Nor will
any reader Of this biography be apt to treat
tho mslversation imputed to Arnold as
proven. for, as the author shows, tho truth
Is that the charges were twice refuted.
namely. before Q committee OF Con-
gress and court martial. although on both OF
those tribunals Arnold's enemies were fully
represented Tho fact. as Mr.. Flske evidently
thinks, that in Benedict Arnold New England
furnished the one great military genius devel-
oped on either side during tho Revolutionary
war.would have been universally acknowledged
had his treason been successful. or had he, re-
naming loyal to his country, been promoted
to the chief command Of an army. a post to
which his rank Of senior Major en-
titled him. But Mr.. Fiske merely anticipates
tho judgment Of history. which will one day dc
justice to Arnold's military abilities and to the
grounds Of his reasonable resentment, as she
has to those of Sertorius, Civilis, and the Con.
stable Of Bourbon.
In tho dslineation of Count Frontenac which
embellishes tho second volume. We find repro
duced tho features with which the reader Of
Mr.. Parkman's histories has been already
made familiar. 1t is, Of course. to tho distin.
guished author OF this sketch that We are In.
dsbted for right conception OF the men who
projected an empire for France in the new
world. and whose plans seem to have been de-
fested by fundamental geographical conditions
as well as BY the failure OF the home Govern.
ment to support them efficiently. OF those
who wasted on an essentially hopeless under
taking abilities Of high order Mr.. Parkman
has taught US to see In Frontenac tho CHIEF
and he reiterates his own conviction in the
closing sentence OF this essay. With those
who shared power with him Frontenac was
always quarrellinR, and often for good reasons
but with all his FAULTS" says Parkman. "he
had done priceless service to the colony. and
his name stands In its annals as that OF the
most remarkable man who ever represented
the crown OF France In America"
The sketch OF Columbus by Gen. J. @. Wilson
one Of the editors OF these volumes, Is psrtic
uIarly satisfactory from the demonstration az